The explosion was heard miles away.
At Pineda Crossing, near the Suntree subdivision, John Panik said he was having trouble sleeping, got out of bed and turned on the television just before 3 a.m.
“I was sitting there and suddenly there was a loud boom,” Panik said. “It shook the windows — not like a big rattle, but a little one. I thought, ‘That’s not normal.’”
The clock read 3:30 a.m. Panik called the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and was told by dispatcher they’d send a deputy out to check out the area. He also contacted Patrick Air Force Base, and was told they didn’t know anything about it.
“I thought it was a sonic boom,” he said. “That’s what I told the sheriff. Like the shuttle returning, but usually you hear two booms, not one.”
This morning, reports of the explosion were all over the television.
“Everybody freaked out. My wife said, ‘Oh, you did hear something,’” Panik said.
There have also been calls to FLORIDA TODAY from residents in Satellite Beach who heard the explosion.
(Original headline: It had thunder of a sonic boom, resident says )
